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At Chepauk
Though Stewart (74), Graeme Hick (64) and Neil Fairbrother (83) were defiant, the asking total was always too huge, and the only English hundred of the match, by Chris Lewis, a rollicking knock full of the most audacious strokes, came too late. The Indian spinners Anil Kumble and Venkatapathy Raju made merry.
1995-96 The second Test between the touring New Zealand team and India ended in a draw after heavy interference by rain, India making 144 for 2 after winning the toss. Sachin Tendulkar with 52 and Manoj Prabhakar with 41, remained unbeaten. March 1998
When Australia batted, it took a fighting 90 by wicket keeper Ian Healy and his 9th wicket partnership of 96 with Robertson to take them to 328 after the top order had crumbled against the spin of Anil Kumble (4 for 103) and Venkatapathy Raju (3 for 54). Another splendid innings by Sidhu, a well-crafted 56 by Dravid, an effortless 64 by skipper Azharuddin and that magnificent onslaught by Tendulkar took the game away from the visitors. Shane Warne was beginning to look dangerous when he dismissed Dravid with a rearing delivery off the rough from round the wicket, but Tendulkar decided to take the bull by the horns and savagely pulled Warne against the spin over midwicket to signal his intent. Thereafter, it was Tendulkar all the way. Chasing a fourth innings target of 348, the Australians had no answer to Kumble, Raju and Chouhan on a wearing wicket, and when a couple of dubious umpiring decisions went against them, their back was broken. India won by 180 runs in the end with Kumble playing a major role, but the match will always be remembered as Sachin Tendulkar’s Test. 1998-99
Earlier, Javagal Srinath (3 for 63) and Anil Kumble (6 for 70) had restricted Pakistan to 238 in the first innings. But for defiance from Yousuf Youhana (53), Moin Khan (60) and Wasim Akram (38) the visitors might have fared worse. Debutant Sadagopan Ramesh (43), Rahul Dravid (53) and Sourav Ganguly (54) then took India to respectability and some degree of comfort with a first innings total of 254. The Pakistani second innings was featured by a stroke-filled 141 by opener Shahid Afridi, supported by Inzamamul Haq (51), Salim Malik (32) and Yousuf Youhana (26) helping Pakistan cruise at 275 for 4, before Venkatesh Prasad (10.2-5-33-6) struck a number of telling blows in a late burst. Pakistan were all out for 286, leaving India a target of 271. The rest is history, a most memorable win for the touring team. Published by Kalamkriya Ltd and distributed by EastWest Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd, the book is priced at Rs 295. Kalamkriya, 9, Cathedral
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Copyright
2008, Chennai Interactive
Business Services (P) Ltd. |
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Smarting from the widespread demand for his removal from the Indian captaincy and his team’s dismal performance in South Africa, Mohammad Azharuddin batted and captained in the manner royal to claim a second successive victory against the embattled Englishmen under Alec Stewart. India won the Test by an innings and 22 runs, a margin that was always on the cards after India amassed 560 for 6 declared through Sachin Tendulkar (165), Navjot Sidhu (106), Pravin Amre (78) and others.
In a calculated attack the Indians launched against him, Australian leg spinner Shane Warne was mauled first by Navjot Sidhu (62 and 64), and later by a marauding Sachin Tendulkar, whose unbeaten second innings 155 ranked with the finest innings seen at Chepauk. Tendulkar had actually failed in the first innings, a great anticlimax after his double hundred for Mumbai against the touring Australians under Mark Taylor, but there were good contributions from makeshift opener Nayan Mongia (58), regular opener Navjot Sidhu, and Rahul Dravid (52), yet India crashed to 232 all out, against the wiles of Warne (4 for 85) well supported by debutant off spinner Gavin Robertson (4 for 72).
The unbelievable Pakistanis won a pulsating Test match by 12 runs, but even more unbelievable was the magnificent standing ovation the sporting Chennai crowd accorded them when Wasim Akram and his men took an unprecedented victory lap after a battle that entertained as much as it caused heart attacks. The crowning glory of the match was a grand 136 battling sapping weather and excruciating back pain by Sachin Tendulkar and his 136-run partnership for the sixth wicket of the Indian second innings with the brave Nayan Mongia (52). The last laugh, was however had by Pakistan’s indefatigable off spinner Saqlain Mushtaq (5 for 94 and 5 for 93), who dismissed the little man seventh out with India barely needing 17 to win, and then proceeded to run through the rest of the batting with considerable help from Wasim Akram. Both Mongia and Tendulkar, presumably overcome by the pressures of the situation, succumbed to wild shots, just when it seemed they had shepherded India to an unlikely victory after 6 second wickets had gone for 82.
